Teacher strikes hit states with strict tax hike requirements

TEACHER STRIKES HIT STATES WITH STRICT TAX HIKE REQUIREMENTS: In Arizona and Oklahoma — where tens of thousands of teachers have flooded state capitals in recent weeks to demand better pay and hundreds of millions of dollars in education funding — the state constitution makes it hard to raise taxes. Voters in both states approved constitutional amendments in 1992 that require a supermajority — much more than half — of the state legislature to impose new taxes or increase existing ones, as opposed to a simple majority.

Story Continued Below

— A major lift in some states: It takes two-thirds of the state legislature in Arizona to impose new taxes or increase taxes. In Oklahoma, it takes 75 percent of the state legislature — one of the strictest requirements in the country. And while supermajorities aren’t the sole driver of education funding woes, critics argue that they lock in tax cuts year after year, making it difficult for states to address education funding shortfalls.

— “This is a classic example of something that sounds good, but it’s a complete poison pill,”said Nick Johnson, senior vice president for state fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Supermajorities just reduce the power of a state to do what it needs to do.” Johnson said the requirements also allow conservatives to “lock-in” their “advantage into the future.” Florida is considering such a proposal on the ballot this November.

— CBPP notes that Arizona “cut personal income tax rates by 10 percent in 2006, cut corporate tax rates by 30 percent in 2011, reduced taxes on capital gains, and reduced taxes in other ways over the last couple of decades.” State education funding in Arizona is also down 14 percent since the recession hit, after adjusting for inflation. A coalition of Arizona public school advocates led by a progressive policy group is now pushing for a ballot measure to raise income taxes on wealthy Arizonans to help pay for public education.

— Conservative organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Councilhave long-pushed for supermajority measures nationwide in an effort to curb “excessive government spending.” Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s vice president for the center for state fiscal reform, argued that supermajorities haven’t prohibited states from taking action when it comes to education funding. He pointed to Oklahoma, where the threat of massive teacher walkouts prompted state lawmakers to pass a rare tax hike in March that would fund a $6,100 pay raise. “When something becomes a necessity, these state lawmakers were able to hit even the most stringent of the supermajority thresholds,” Williams said.

— The walkout in Arizona is expected to continue today for a fourth school day.

POLITICO’s Ben White is bringing Morning Money to the Milken Institute Global Conference to provide coverage of the day’s events and evening happenings. The newsletter will run April 29 - May 2. Sign up to keep up with your daily conference coverage.

GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT RULE IN COURT TODAY: The Trump administration and Democratic attorneys general will square off in federal court today over the legality of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ delay of the Obama-era gainful employment rule. The regulation, which cuts off federal aid to career college programs whose graduates have high amounts of loan debt relative to their earnings, was finalized by the Obama administration in 2014. But the Democratic state attorneys general argue that the Trump administration has effectively delayed and illegally failed to implement key parts of the regulation while the Education Department takes steps to rewrite the rule.

— The 18 Democratic attorneys general, led by Maryland’s Brian Frosh, sued the Education Department last year over the “gainful employment” rule. They argue that the Trump administration has postponed key consumer disclosure requirements under the rule and has been “egregious” in its delay of finalizing debt-to-earnings metrics that could lead to career college programs losing access to federal aid.

— The Trump administration is in the process of judging colleges’ appeals of their 2015 debt-to-earnings metrics, which the Obama administration published before leaving office. DeVos re-opened and eased the appeals process for some programs, resulting in a flood of new appeals by colleges. The Education Department has, so far, approved all of the appeals submitted by colleges. As of April 25, according to department data, officials had granted 66 appeals while another 186 remained pending. More than 600 programs initially indicated their plans to appeal their data but have since abandoned those efforts, according to the data.

— U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is overseeing the case, will hold a hearing on the Trump administration and the states’ motions for summary judgement in the case today at 10 a.m. at the federal court in D.C.

** A message from ECMC Group: February is Career and Technical Education Month®. At ECMC Group, we’re uniquely positioned to address America’s workforce development opportunities through education, investment and innovation. Together, ECMC Group, our affiliates and our partners are helping to close our middle-skills gap and improve student loan repayment. Learn more.**

NEW DOCUMENTS: DEVOS CALENDAR FOR JANUARY AND FEBRUARY: The Education Department has released redacted versions of DeVos’ calendar for the first two months of this year. DeVos’ calendars for January and February show meetings with members of Congress and Cabinet and other administration officials as well as governors.

— DeVos also had a handful of scheduled meetings relating to the United Kingdom. She was slated to have a coffee meeting with Kim Darroch, the British ambassador, on Jan. 10. Two events on her calendar on Jan. 16 and 17 were labeled, respectively, “London Prep Meeting” and “Speech Prep (London).” She was slated to speak with Damian Hinds, the U.K.’s secretary of state for education, on Jan. 22. A month later, DeVos’ calendar indicates, she was planning to drop by a Royal Commonwealth Society of the United States of America reception at the D.C. law and lobbying firm Patton Squire Boggs. She also had a scheduled meeting on Feb. 26 with David Willetts, a former U.K. minister of universities and science, who has been named as the next chancellor of the University of Leicester.

— The department previously, in response to a lawsuit from American Oversight, released DeVos’ calendar for February 2017 through July 2017. It’s unclear why the department hasn’t yet released calendars for July 2017 through the end of last year.

WEST VIRGINIA PRESIDENT CALLS FOR LOWERING THE DRINKING AGE: A decade ago, then-Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee was among a group of university presidents who generated headlines by advocating for lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. Today, Gee, now the president of West Virginia University, says as universities look at tackling sexual assault, he thinks it’s time to revive the 2008 effort. During a visit to POLITICO, Gee said in an earlier era, when 18-years-olds could legally drink, he as a university president could offer programs that encourage responsible drinking. He said he thinks it’s important to treat 18-year-olds “like adults,” which in turn will help create a cultural shift. “The minute we can do that, we’re going to make a real change, I think,” Gee said.

— Today, Gee said, students under age 21 know they shouldn’t drink, so they go to “dark places.” “We’ve got to move the drinking age on university campuses back to 18. We have created a binge culture, which has created a lot of the problems in terms of sexual assault and a variety of other things. We’ve got to get this thing under control.”

ICYMI – INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ENROLLMENT DIPPED SLIGHTLY IN PAST YEAR: International student enrollment at U.S. schools decreased by 0.5 percent over the course of a one-year period that ended in early March, according to a new report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The report, which tracked the number of students with active F and M student visas, offers a snapshot of international student enrollment under President Donald Trump. While the combined number of students on F visas (for academic studies) and M visas (for vocational studies) declined, the number of people who came to the U.S. on J-1 cultural exchange visas — which allow foreigners to work in the U.S. — rose by 4 percent, according to the new data. Read more from POLITICO’s Ted Hesson.

REPORT ROLL CALL

— The nonprofit Education Commission of the States is out with a new brief on “rethinking dual enrollment to reach more students.”

— The progressive National Education Policy Center is out with a new paper that’s critical of virtual schools and their outcomes.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman has joined the board of directors for the Council of Chief State School Officers, the organization representing state education chiefs nationwide.

— Chad Colby, vice president of strategic communications and outreach at the nonprofit Achieve, is joining the nonprofit Great Minds to lead communications and outreach. Great Minds is the creator of the Eureka Math curriculum.

SYLLABUS

— George Mason University granted the Charles Koch Foundation a say in the hiring and firing of professors in exchange for millions of dollars in donations, according to newly released documents: The Associated Press.

— Colleges are adding programs in a once-decimated industry: manufacturing. But few young people are seeking out the skills to fill these jobs: The Hechinger Report.

CORRECTION: The April 26 edition of Morning Education misrepresented the testimony of Mamie Voight of the Institute for Higher Education Policy. Voight planned to urge lawmakers to increase the maximum Pell Grant enough to at least keep pace with inflation.

** A message from ECMC Group: February is Career and Technical Education Month®. At ECMC Group, we’re uniquely positioned to address America’s workforce development opportunities through education, investment and innovation. We’re building partnerships with businesses, educators and workforce development agencies to focus on the needs of students, employers and the U.S. economy. Together, ECMC Group, our affiliates (Altierus Career College, ECMC Foundation and ECMC) and our partners are making an impact on CTE access and student success, helping to close the nation’s middle-skills gap and improving student loan repayment. Learn more.**

CORRECTION: A previous version of Morning Education misstated the name of West Virginia University.

About The Author : Michael Stratford

Michael Stratford is an education reporter for POLITICO Pro. He most recently covered federal higher education policy and student loans at Inside Higher Ed, with previous bylines at The Associated Press, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. Stratford grew up in Belmont, Mass. and graduated from Cornell University, where he was managing editor of The Cornell Daily Sun.